64 Cutlass project

[vista461]

Well almost 3 years ago I was cruising Ebay and saw a 64 with a good body at a cheap price, said to my wife "Man I wish I could get that but it pretty far." She said go ahead and buy it , I just had to get rid of a parts car I had. So I bought the 64 off ebay as a no interior or drivetrain roller. I drove out west because here in Wisconsin trying to find a 64 at all is hard and to find a solid body at a reasonable price is nearly impossible. Plus roadtrips are always fun

Here it is right after we loaded it up on the trailer.




We got it home and it sat for a little while. I have been doing a little here and there over the last few years as I have been working fulltime and going to school fulltime so that doesn't leave much time for anything else.

I traded a friend my G-body x-pipe system for a 3 " Pypes x-pipe setup




Dropped in my 455 that had been in two other cars but never left the driveway




I bought an aluminum radiator from www.rocketracingperformance.com



Its a universal one but fits pretty good , no internal trans cooler but I have that handled too.



I pulled out the 3.08 8.2" rear that was stock in favor of a 3.42 geared 71-2 Cutlass 8.5". The rear is still waiting to go in when I have some extra time, I just put new brake lines on it since it was out.

I did find a set of seat cores from another Olds guy, got them for a pretty good price, they were originally from AZ so the covers and foam were trashed, the foam was crispy like, well rice krispies. lol

I have the exhaust all welded together and installed and connected to Hedman 58150 headers.
Going to stay with the drums for now and maybe upgrade later to discs, but it is getting new shoes/rubber lines and dual res. master.

For a graduation present my wife got me a new interior from Legendary, I just have to get a few extra bucks together to have an upholstery guy put it on the seats. WIth my luck I'd do something to wreck the covers. lol
It's going to have the stock style light blue interior.
It was a bucket/console car so I picked up a console at a local swap meet.
I also manage to get a set of 64 dogdish caps over the course of two different swapmeets, so I'll be running them eventually.
That's about it for now

[Wasted]

Looking good, nice find seems like 64s are hard to find anywhere. But that just means you probably will never see one driving next to you on the street.

[citcapp]

Nice work so far, looking foward to more pictures

[442scotty]

Looks great!

[vista461]

Thanks guys.
It does seem like there are more 64s and 65s coming out of the woodwork, but I don't think I'll ever see as many 70-72s.

[1964f-85]

Welcome fellow 64 owner, when converting to discs check out ECI breaks narrow track conversion, it moves the front wheels in 1/2" over drums and 1" over 68-72 dis converions, a must for 64's with wider wheels.
Look for a front 1.25" sway bar off of a mid 70's trans am, fits perfectly and will help keep the car level with the 455 in corners. The rear is good for now, but I would suggest eventully getting an exact fit Moser 9", it is the stock width and will allow for wider tires in the rear. Make sure the headers don't rub the frame, I have never found headers that fit well that I didn't have to mangle to clear the 64's narrow frame rails.

Contact me if you need any advise.
Scott

[joe_padavano]

Originally Posted by 1964f-85

Look for a front 1.25" sway bar off of a mid 70's trans am...

Actually, it needs to be off a T/A with the WS6 package. Lesser T/As may not have it. You also need the end links for the T/A (not for the Cutlass) and the frame brackets and bushings for the T/A to accommodate the larger bar. It's also a good idea to replace the cheesy sheet metal screws holding the brackets to the frame with real nutserts and bolts. The stiffer bar can pull the original bolts right out of the frame. I've routinely found these bars at swap meets for $25-$30 each. Just got another one at Spring Carlisle.

If you install this bar, you definitely want the boxed lower rear control arms and rear bar. The problem with the A-body cars is that they understeer badly. Increasing the stiffness of the front end reduces roll but makes the understeer problem worse (so at least your level as you plow off the road). A rear bar helps with understeer. In fact, these cars like a rear bar that's at least as large as the front one. Unfortunately, the only factory bar is 3/4". Larger ones are available from the aftermarket, but are pricey.

[vista461]

Originally Posted by 1964f-85

Welcome fellow 64 owner, when converting to discs check out ECI breaks narrow track conversion, it moves the front wheels in 1/2" over drums and 1" over 68-72 dis converions, a must for 64's with wider wheels.
Look for a front 1.25" sway bar off of a mid 70's trans am, fits perfectly and will help keep the car level with the 455 in corners. The rear is good for now, but I would suggest eventully getting an exact fit Moser 9", it is the stock width and will allow for wider tires in the rear. Make sure the headers don't rub the frame, I have never found headers that fit well that I didn't have to mangle to clear the 64's narrow frame rails.

Contact me if you need any advise.
Scott

The 8.5 will be enough for anything I plan to throw at it, but thanks for the suggestion. All ready have the headers in, had to trim some metal , but no biggie. Yeah the stock front sway bar looks kinda small, so I may do the front and rear upgrade.

[1964f-85]

on the rear i used the factory boxed lowers with the stock upper that I boxed in with mild steel, energy suspension bushings and, if I remember correctly, a Vista Cruiser rear sway bar. She is no Porche, but it is a 1000 times better than the stock set up. On the front, I agree with using nutserts on the front sway bar bushing mounts, as I recall the poly bushings/mounts and end matching end links are available at most auto part stores.

[Olds64]

Very cool car.

Keep us updated with news and pictures... or else.

[citcapp]

I really like those valve covers. Mind telling me where you got them

[vista461]

A friend of mine had them and I traded some G-body parts I had to him for them. They are TALL. So I won't be running power brakes.

[nonhog]

Great so far. 455 Cutlass I like the sounds of that !

"I also manage to get a set of 64 dogdish caps over the course of two different swapmeets"

Are you going to run wider than stock wheels since your a bit higher than stock on torque ?

I had some 14x5's changed to 15x8 years back, wish I had them back.

Keep the pics coming !

[gearheads78]

nice project........... keep us updated on it

[vista461]

Originally Posted by nonhog

Great so far. 455 Cutlass I like the sounds of that !

"I also manage to get a set of 64 dogdish caps over the course of two different swapmeets"

Are you going to run wider than stock wheels since your a bit higher than stock on torque ?

I had some 14x5's changed to 15x8 years back, wish I had them back.

Keep the pics coming !

I'm thinking I may do some 15x7 in the back and some 14x6 in the front. But finding cheap steel wheels around here isn't as easy as it used to be. lol
People used to just throw them away.
Haven't had much time to work on it lately, I was getting my wagon ready for the trip to Norwalk, now I should be gettting some more time to play around with it.

[vista461]

Well I got the rear in today. Took longer than 4 bolts should have. PITA trying to get it lined up by myself without it falling off the jack. lol
I took the manual steering box off my 64 442 and looks like a mounting bolt broke somewhere along the way in the last 45 years. The other two were a little thin in the middle too. So now I have to get the broken piece of bolt out and get it cleaned up and painted and installed.

[vista461]

Put in a manual steering box and a new ragjoint.



Yesterday I started another project on the car.
This will either turn out well or will turn out as a "but it looked so easy on that website" type project
I was going to pay to have the seat recovered, but I looked in my wallet and I didn't see any money in their with the cobwebs and moths
So I started by taking the old covers of of the pass seat. Yes covers as in two. I bought this seat set from an Olds guy about 45 min away., they are from a 64 Post Coupe. He got them from either NV or AZ I forget, both covers were trashed from the heat and sun. The foam is crispy , but the springs, frame and tracks are in good shape.

Clearly red seats aren't going to go with a blue car, unless I was Superman or something.









Hmm looks like the cloth insert used to be red too




Like an onion these seats have layers



I've taken a ton of pics all over so far to make re assembly easier. We'll see how it goes.


Today I started to make more progress on the pass bottom seat cushion.

[Aron Nance]

Nice little '64. Bet that sucker hauls w/the/455! I had forgotten that in 1968 I had a '64 4 door, think it had the small V8. Ran it a lot to college/home (commuter school) and to Arkansas to see my main squeeze (then). Plain white, cannot remember interior color. Gosh, this gettin' older is gettin' tough, what with the CRS, CHS, arthritis, etc. Still on the right side of the dirt, though!

[jims2000lt]

Nice 64. The one you picked up looks like the one in my mind that I want to get someday. Good luck with the build. Going to Byron for thr Bop wars?

[vista461]

No not going to make Byron. I have a busy weekend

[therobski]

Correct me if I am wrong the 64 dog dish hub ( poverty) caps are a one year only piece?

[vista461]

Yeah they seem to be, def different than 65. Was kind of a pain to get a set together for my car

[therobski]

I'm hooked on these 64-65 "post" buggy's. They are getting VERY hard to find.

[vista461]

Yeah they are hard to find, out of the 4 64's I've had only one was a post.